Masa Ta’aruf or Mataf (student orientation) of Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta (UMY) was conducted on Monday to Wednesday (21-23/8) at Sportorium of UMY. It aimed to acquaint freshmen with the university. Invited as one of the mataf speakers was Fahd Pahdepie, a writer, public speaker, creativity activist, and political consultant. He discussed that students should be able to foster their potential to coin something new.

Fahd stated that students should possess ideas and be implemented to be a good work. “In this era you should change yourself and use your experiences to determine your paths.  You have to be grateful to be a part of intellectuals and agents of change. Indeed, you have to have desire to create innovation which is valuable for all people,” he emphasized.

Fahd added that this century is a transition from the 20^th to the 21^st century that information has become a vital part to be a superior person. “In the 21^st century, who will be a top leader is a person who coins innovation and possesses ideas that other people can access. To have a work, you have to possess a concept which no one has created yet. On the other hand, in the 20^th century, the ones who conquered this world were the people who control information such as lawyers, lecturers, accountants, and researchers. Thus, in the 21^st century, the agents of change are no longer lawyers, lecturers, accountants or researchers, but they are people who have high integrity and power to make something new,” conveyed Fahd, who is also an alumnus of Department of International Relations of UMY.

In addition, no faculty or department is considered a favorite one because what will make a person qualified is the person himself. “Students should enhance their potentials so that many people will appreciate their work. A successful person is not only activist but also the one loving sharing ideas. Hence, I expect that a higher education institution could guide its students to work well and the institution no longer leads the students to only gain scores or predicates,” stressed Fahd.